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Infanticide
Ms Moran:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department (1) if he will list the (a) parliamentary constituency of residence, (b) age, (c) date, (d) location and (e) manner of death of each child who was killed (i) during child contact visits with parents with a history of domestic violence and (ii) in cases of disputed contact in instances of domestic violence by parents since January 1995; [113950]
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Mr. Boateng:
Just over 50 children a year in England and Wales are killed by their parents, but those killed during contact visits and in cases of disputed contact cannot be separately identified in the statistics collected centrally.
Mr. Syms:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how much the Government plan to spend from his Department's budget on asylum seekers in 1999-2000 and 2000-01. [115512]
Mrs. Roche:
Responsibility for the budget for supporting asylum seekers transferred to the Home Office from April 1999. It is anticipated that the total cost of operating the Immigration and Nationality Directorate and supporting asylum seekers for the financial year 1999-2000 will be in the region of around £800 million.
The Home Office has a provisional allocation of £300 million for supporting asylum seekers in 2000-01. Estimating support costs for 2000-01 is subject to a large number of variables such as the level of new applications, the speed of processing claims and the resources directed at processing cases and other work. Those estimates and the overall resourcing of the Immigration and Nationality Directorate are currently under review.
Mrs. Dunwoody:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many prosecutions have taken place in the last 12 months relating to the use of illegal diesel fuel. [114520]
Mr. Timms:
I have been asked to reply.
In the financial year to date 11 prosecutions have taken place which relate to the smuggling of diesel fuel with a further 14 cases awaiting trial.
Customs and Excise also prosecute cases arising from the misuse of rebated oils but I regret that figure is not readily available.
Mr. Gordon Prentice:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what is his policy on regulations appertaining to (a) trade union and (b) other organisations' ballot procedures which for public policy reasons were laid down by Parliament. [114995]
Mr. Alan Johnson:
I have been asked to reply.
So far as trade unions are concerned, when conducting ballots they must comply with the relevant legal requirements set out in the Trade Union and Labour Relations (Consolidation) Act 1992 as amended (including
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by the Employment Relations Act 1999). My right hon. Friend the Secretary of State will shortly be commencing provisions of the 1999 Act which provide for balloting in connection with union recognition and derecognition. He has no plans for further changes to the law governing trade union balloting procedures.
As to "balloting" by other organisations, my Department published last year a consultative document setting out the Government's proposals for strengthening the current regulatory and best practice frameworks governing the level of company directors' remuneration. The document expressed the Government's concern that many listed companies have failed to respond adequately to the current best practice provisions on transparency, linkage to performance and accountability to shareholders and canvassed views on a number of options, including some involving additional shareholder voting requirements. The Government expect to announce the outcome of their consultation shortly.
Miss McIntosh:
To ask the President of the Council what estimate she has made of the running costs of sittings in Westminster Hall; and if she will make a statement. [114094]
Mrs. Beckett:
I understand that no readily available separately identifiable costs arise from the use of permanent staff of the House, but that certain extra running costs for security, for printing the Official Report and for the provision of sound services for the extra debate and scrutiny Westminster Hall provides will amount to approximately £155,000 in a full year.
Mrs. Brinton:
To ask the President of the Council how many bills published since the Queen's Speech were accompanied by a statement of their implications for the environment; and what proportion this represents of the total number of Bills published in the current session. [114703]
Mrs. Beckett:
There is no formal requirement on Departments to either produce or publish full environmental appraisals. However, environmental appraisals have been published alongside two Government Bills this session, representing 5.5 per cent. of the number of Government Bills published in the current Session, including the Financial Services and Markets Bill which was published last Session but carried over to complete its passage in this.
(2) how many children have been killed in England and Wales since 1 January 1995 during child contact visits with parents who had a history of domestic violence. [113949]